The present invention relates to an improved process for producing a rapidly water-soluble, free-flowing, substantially sugar-free dry beverage mix utilizing the initial step of an intimate dry mixing procedure of the combination of coarse particles of rapidly water-soluble food acids and the fine particles of a slow water-soluble flavor and flow conditioner wherein on intimate mixing with each other produces a uniformly dispersed composition and the resulting dispersed combination is thoroughly mixed and dispersed with a malto-dextrin having coarse particles, a product is obtained which rapidly dissolves in water providing the desired ready-to-drink beverage. A preferred process of the invention is the addition of a high potency artificial sweetener such as the methyl ester of L-aspartyl-L-phenylalanine (APM) with the malto-dextrin into the first intimately mixed ingredients of food acids, flavors and flow conditioner, and intimately dry mixed until a beverage product is produced which rapidly dissolves in water.
In the production of dry beverage mixes, it has always been important to provide a product which dissolves rapidly and if a clouding agent is present, it is essential that the clouding agent is rapidly and permanently dispersed as well. When sugar is used as a sweetener, the amount of sugar present in the beverage is large enough so that the sugar bulk goes rapidly in solution taking the slowly soluble ingredients such as flavors, clouding agents anti-caking agents and the like into solution. Without sugar present, it has always been a problem to dry mix ingredients which have a slow rate of dissolution including the flavors and especially in combination with the high potency artificial sweeteners such as APM, cyclamates, saccharines and the like to provide a dry beverage mix which on reconstitution rapidly dissolves in water. If the ingredients such as clouding agents, flavors, anti-caking agents and the like in a beverage mix are not rapidly dissolved or easily dispersed, the product is not considered desirable by the consumer.
A further limitation of the high potency artificial sweeteners such as APM is the flowability of the sweeteners when intermixed with other powderous materials. The flowability of the sweeteners in granular mixtures with food acids such as citric acid and other beverage mix ingredients such as flavors and the like, is poor in that it tends to bridge the remaining ingredients such that the mix will not flow readily or discharge through high speed packaging equipment. It has been stated that even when the sweeteners are ground or it is coground with other materials serving as dispersants, the ultimate mix containing such a composition leaves much to be desired in terms of the flowability since the composition tends to pack or bridge.
To overcome the problems of flowability and the slow rate of dissolution and limited solublity of the beverage mixes in aqueous systems, many proposals have been suggested. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,633 issued Dec. 23, 1975 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,004,079 issued Jan. 18, 1977, both assigned to General Foods Corporation, APM is discretely dispersed throughout a matrix by melting a fuseable mass and subdividing it to encapsulate the APM therein. The matrix can be a class of amphorous acids such as citric acid; polyhydric alcohols such as sorbitol; starch hydrolyzates such as corn syrup and the like. The encapsulated APM increases its rate of solubility and dry mix flowability. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,288 issued Sept. 25, 1973 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,456 issued Jan. 4, 1977, both assigned to General Foods Corporation, describe a process for significantly increasing the rate of solution of dipeptide sweetening compounds by codrying or spray-drying an aqueous solution of an edible bulking agent and the dipeptide sweetening compound. U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,448 issued Jan. 4, 1977 assigned to General Foods, describes the steam agglomeration of a dry beverage mix while combining monocalcium - dicalcium phosphate with a food acid such as citric, malic and the like to permit easy flow of materials and avoiding fines of the beverage which have to be recycled. U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,288 issued Feb. 8, 1977 assigned to General Foods Corporation, describes the production of readily soluble sweetening compositions by vacuum drum drying solutions of an edible bulking agent and a dipeptide sweetening agent. All of the above processes which utilize a form of agglomeration of various ingredients provide satisfactory products which are readily water-soluble and readily flowable in their dry form.